Team-BHP Car of the Year 2011. EDIT : Mahindra XUV500 it is!!

This is a discussion on Team-BHP Car of the Year 2011. EDIT : Mahindra XUV500 it is!! within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; Doesn't this poll an eye opener for Tatas and Fords and T-Bhpians. The first thing comes to the mind with ...

Doesn't this poll an eye opener for Tatas and Fords and T-Bhpians. The first thing comes to the mind with XUV is VFM Price-tag. Performance, A.S.S., etc is yet to be seen, but voters have already declared it a winner by big margin. It must be having its shares of niggles, price is also going to be increased, car has not yet been seen in person by more than 90% of the voters as it has been launched in 5-6 metros only but yet is a winner. This is really remarkable. It shows whatever technical discussions are done but the MAIN criteria to choose a car is Price. Kudos to Mahindra for showing yet again as to how to build a brand and how to introduce a product in Bharatiya Bazaar. I have also voted for XUV due to VFM it offers.

Though I voted for the New Jetta, the winner is definitely going to be the XUV5OO without a doubt.
One looks on the features and the price and that's it. On paper, it is the best car anyone can buy in the Indian market period.

IMO, even if Mahindra decides to hike the prices, it would still be a steal as compared to say an Innova or an Aria.

I voted for Verna the day the poll was opened. I said here is my chance to decide the car of the year!

It was the market response - the fact that Verna has upstaged the mighty City and beaten back the strong Vento - and done so consistently - that swung my vote in its favour.

And since then, there has been this unease - have I done justice to my vote by picking a car that I, as a Team-BHPian, would NOT buy with my money? I can overcome my dislike for its looks, but how will I ever get myself to accept its jelly-like suspensions? No offence to anyone - just my preference.

I believe I did not do justice to MY vote. Just going by the market response, and by ignoring my unique preferences and the knowledge of cars imbibed through team-bhp. The poll doesn't need a vote for the most successful car of the year - it needs a vote for Team-BHP car of the year, i.e. what car the BHPians would pick . Of course, market success /failure is one of the decision criterion. But more than than, the car BHPians pick, with their distinguished bank of knowledge and understanding, should serve as a guiding reference to the market - something that the market would look up to - rather than the other way round. For that, I think there has to be that critic's flavour associated with the choice.

With this perspective, what should have been the thought process while voting? I think I missed the fist stage here

1st stage - Elimination process - by selecting only those cars that make a compelling buy FOR ME in their respective segments. For this, I would factor in, apart from the inherent competitive product strengths that appeal to me, as well as other important, and relatively intangible factors like brand perception, VFM factor, reliability, A$$, resale value expectation etc. etc.

And since then, there has been this unease - have I done justice to my vote by picking a car that I, as a Team-BHPian, would NOT buy with my money?

Well said. Even I would go by your logic and say that perhaps the one I would vote might not necessarily be the one I end up buying, budget permitting.

But as automobile enthusiasts, we also have adequate knowledge to understand exactly 'why' this particular car shook the market enough to be considered as car of the year, even though our own selection criteria while buying may be entirely different. Just like you said, even I would perhaps not consider both XUV5OO as well as Verna for buying (Swift being an exception).

On the other hand, market duds like Yeti, Linea T-jet, Cedia etc are appreciated and adored by many amongst us (and justifably so). I personally would buy the Yeti eyes closed rather than XUV. But still, my vote for the car of the year might be different.

The ability to shake its current segment should a big factor while considering, and both Verna and XUV come out with flying colours on this aspect.

The way this polls is going, it is already game, set, match and championship for the XUV 500. Even the mighty Swift and the Verna have lost pace by a huge distance and are unlikely to overtake the 500.

Since my interest in cars is limited to those that I can afford at this moment, my poll was restricted to the Eon, Brio, Liva and Swift. Of these four cars, I needed only a few seconds to vote for my winner -- the Eon.

Reasons?

The Eon arrived at a time when the Alto continues to be the reigning king of the A segment. While most drama has been centred around the B segment, there were not too many companies willing to enter (or risk entering) the A segment and take on the might of the Alto.

And with the Nano having tasted mixed fortunes (with occasional success), only a company with immense courage, clout and conviction would be willing to barge into this category.

As a result, most customers had little to chose from, with the options largely limited to the Nano and Alto. Both of these two cars had average interior fit and finish, with the customer being made to believe that these 'budget' cars have been built to a cost.

Well, all that changed when Hyundai introduced the Eon. With its superb interior fit and finish, the Eon suddenly revived interest in the A segment. More importantly, the Eon reassured customers that an A segment car could actually have good build and premium interiors (for the segment) within Rs 3-3.5 lakh.

The Eon has the same Hyundai's fluidic philosophy and as a result, Eon customers don't feel they are driving a budget and a bare bones car (like the Nano), but can enjoy the same premium feel of its bigger and more expensive siblings, the i10 and Verna. And with great boot space (for its size), the first/sole car families can now enjoy traveling further for a holiday. For those who already have a larger hatch or a sedan, the Eon also makes a great second car for city use.

For those who dream about their first car, they now have a good choice between two great cars (Alto and Eon) from two great car companies which boast of great Pan-India network to ensure great after sales service.

Thanks to Hyundai, the Eon has given a first car family something to dream about.

My vote goes to the all new Jetta. A few points mentioned by GTO alone was enough to make my decision. I thought I would be the only one who would have voted for the new Jetta , but there are few other fellows too with me. I find the new Jetta to resemble the Audi A4 more than Vento.(Same Engine but with a different state of tune, tail lamps etc etc).It has got all the safety features , superior build quality and competent engine and gearbox which qualifies it as the Car of the year. Volvo S60 came a close second. A whopping 300+ bhp engine which simply smokes the mercs and beemers is just amazing combined with the safety features which one can just dream about. I find the XUV500 as the most VFM car of the year. I think it is a wonderful achievement for the Mahindra's.

Honda Brio - Limited rear space for the pricing.
MS Swift - Performance has given way to efficiency, not a good trade off.
XUV500 - Sheer VFM, fantastic product, but still does not get the vote.
Kizashi - Hopeless.

Now the winner to me is - The VOLVO S60.....

For 38L OTR Delhi you get 304 BHP and 44 Kgm of Torque @ 2100 RPM.

As mentioned in the reviews, the 3 series and the C class don't even come close to the S60 when compared specs wise.

For me S60 is SHEER value for money.

All - The above mentioned comments are my perceptions about products, please do not take them personally.

I won't comment on your takes.

But i have to question why you decided to ignore less rear seat space, less ground clearance and no volvo network for s60.

if you find brio's space less for its price, i think when i am spending 8 times more, i expect more space than s60 offers. Again, if i am spending 3 times the price of XUV5oo or twice of kizashi, i expect better ground clearance and not hit speed bumps every half a mile. Again, if i am spending 8 times the price of brio, i expect more visibility among public by having more showrooms and service centers wherever possible and have some more brand awareness.

so while your perception on other product is good enough since its your opinion, somehow your car of year choice doesn't go well with your own reasoning since you ignored other disadvantages of s60 for just its engine that too after spending some 40 large to get one.

Your VFM statement comes in at 11 lakhs for XUV as shown above, i don't see how it is VFM at 38 lakhs. No offense to your choice or your perception. just a question.

I voted for XUV500. Its design is leagues ahead for Mahindra (or for that matter any Indian manufacturer) and they priced it well (really well) making it an absolutely bang for the buck.
I hope Tata learns something from Mahindra and hopefully next year I might be voting for Tata Nano Diesel.

But i have to question why you decided to ignore less rear seat space, less ground clearance and no volvo network for s60.

if you find brio's space less for its price, i think when i am spending 8 times more, i expect more space than s60 offers. Again, if i am spending 3 times the price of XUV5oo or twice of kizashi, i expect better ground clearance and not hit speed bumps every half a mile. Again, if i am spending 8 times the price of brio, i expect more visibility among public by having more showrooms and service centers wherever possible and have some more brand awareness.

so while your perception on other product is good enough since its your opinion, somehow your car of year choice doesn't go well with your own reasoning since you ignored other disadvantages of s60 for just its engine that too after spending some 40 large to get one.

Your VFM statement comes in at 11 lakhs for XUV as shown above, i don't see how it is VFM at 38 lakhs. No offense to your choice or your perception. just a question.

Chev -

My responses -

My comparison of the S60 was with the 330i the A4 and stuff, when you compare the pricing and what is being offered the S60 to me is miles ahead.

On the Brio part, you can well imagine the Brio being loaded with 4 if not 5 people so when I spoke about it, I kept in mind the strata of people that would be buying the Brio. Me for 1 cannot imagine the S60 being loaded with 5 odd people. The S60 might be a bit less spacious but at the price point one might negate the space factor.

A$$ might be an issue as you have rightly pointed out, but for me I have never and would not in the future buy any of my cars on the basis of the following -

1) Space - I better be looking out for a house if I am looking for space, I would any given day buy the Cruze hatchback over the so called sedan that we have here.

2) Brand & Visibility - I buy my cars not to show it off to my next door neighbor, for me when I am spending 3 hours a day inside my vehicle, I just want it to be a hoot to drive.

3) GC - People left and right are buying the Super Low, it commands a waiting period of 8 odd months, do you really think they are fools?

Mate, our perceptions about machines and what we want from them differ.

Without a doubt the XUV500. This is a segment shaker. Not just in it's own but a segment below and a segment above. Call it good VFM or whatever you want to call it but nobody expected the XUV at this price point. People looking for cars in the 8L-10L range (don't know which segment that is) will be hugely tempted to upgrade & people in the Cruze segment will also be tempted in a save more than a few bucks and look at the high end model. I don't see any life for high end Innovas or Arias (in any trim) any more.

Only question mark is the reliability. If that's a yes, I can see prices of Endeavour/Captiva tumbling down. I think it might already have had an effect.